Like Father, Like Son
by Inimbi
Summary: It all begins in Series 2, Episode 13. When Arthur overhears a conversation between a father and a son, he is forced to make a choice; will he too follow in the footsteps of his father?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first story, so don't be _too_ hard on me ;) Though criticism is appreciated.**

**We begin with S2 E13 as it initially played out, but the POV has been switched a little... I know we're on series 5 now but I reckon this could've happened. :)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!**

**Chapter 1**

The snap of a twig echoed through the forest. Arthur's head whipped around.

"Overbearing," Merlin, who had been too busy listing Arthur's faults to hear the noise, continued speaking, "Very overbearing."

"Merlin!" Arthur hissed, now standing in a crouched position and swivelling the sword around as he tried to pinpoint the source of the noise.

"But you wanted me to talk," Merlin retorted. The sound of another twig cracking bounced off the trees and as Arthur moved towards the noise Merlin cautiously stood up to follow him, grabbing his own sword and walking quietly in Arthur's wake.

Another snap. The two young men turned hurriedly, Merlin pointing his sword in front of him.

"Careful boy."

Balinor stood before them, wearing a gentle grin beneath his dark brown beard.

"I thought you might need some help."

Arthur felt a wave of relief surge through him. The dragonlord had changed his mind – Camelot was saved! His city, his people, and his father were all saved. Gwen was saved…

"This is dangerous country," Balinor finished softly.

Arthur had to be sure he hadn't mistaken the man's words. He walked forward and asked, "And will you return to Camelot with us?"

When the man answered, however, it was not Arthur he spoke to.

"You were right, Merlin. There are some in Camelot who risked their lives for me. I owe a debt that must be repaid."

Arthur looked at Merlin in confusion. "Oh," he thought, remembering the way Merlin had hung back when they were leaving the caves, "Merlin must have been making another attempt at persuading the dragonlord to return with us…" He turned back to Balinor, but his mind was still thinking through what had been said. How had Merlin known what to say to this man? '_You were right, Merlin_' – how had _Merlin_ known that there were people '_in Camelot who risked their lives for_' Balinor?

Arthur shook away his thoughts. He had to be absolutely certain that the dragonlord would come with them to Camelot.

"If you succeed in killing the dragon," Arthur assured Balinor, "you will not go unrewarded."

Balinor, much to the prince's surprise, chuckled slightly, before softly saying that he didn't seek a reward.

Arthur swallowed his amazement (why would someone who lived in a cave not want a reward?).

"Great!" he said, smiling and sticking his sword into the ground, all fear of bandits gone from his mind. He now remembered how hungry he was, as the smell of rabbit wafted towards him from the cooking pot that had Merlin had previously been tending to. "Let's eat."

* * *

Merlin held a damp twig loosely in one hand. He was alone with Balinor; Arthur was exploring the forest to make sure that none of Cenred's men were nearby. There would probably be no better moment for this discussion than now; Merlin knew that when they started their journey homewards, Arthur would stay as close to Camelot's saviour – the last dragonlord, and their last hope – as possible.

"When you healed Arthur," he said, bending to search for a dryer piece of wood, "I heard you mumble some words."

"An ancient prayer," Balinor explained, turning away from Merlin's gaze.

"I thought it might've been more than that," said Merlin.

"The Old Religion can teach us many things."

"The Old Religion, is that something you were taught?"

"It's not something you can learn. Either it's a part of you or it isn't." Balinor let out the smallest of sighs before continuing, "My father knew that, and his father before him."

"Were they also dragonlords?"

Balinor stopped picking up firewood and stared at Merlin with a mixture of suspicion and interest.

In a firm voice he abruptly changed the topic.

"We'll need some kindling."

Merlin gathered his courage. He stood up, preparing to reveal all to the dragonlord who was, as Gaius had only told him a few days ago, his father.

* * *

_"Have you no conscience?"_

_"You should ask that question," The dragonlord spat, "Of your father."_

As Arthur trod through the leaf litter, he couldn't quell the memory of what Balinor had said at the caves from surging to the forefront of his mind.

_"You should ask that question of your father."_

What on earth had the man meant? What had King Uther done to him? Arthur knew that his father was not a perfect man. He had watched, over and over, many men, women, and even, sometimes, children, being slain for breaking laws that Uther had lain down. He knew that his father was blind when it came to magic, burning sorcerers and druids at the stake without giving them any trial, even if they had only been using their powers for the smallest of things. Did Uther do the same when it came to dragonlords?

_Gaius spoke up. "We need a dragonlord, sire."_

_Uther replied sharply, "You know very well that's not an option."_

"Why, father?" Arthur wondered. "Why wasn't it an option? Why is this man, Balinor, the _last_ dragonlord?"

A flurry of movement to his right jerked the prince from his thoughts. Spinning around, his eyes caught sight of a wren alighting on a sapling branch, causing the young tree to shudder with the weight.

Just a bird.

Arthur turned back and continued his sweep of the forest, paying more attention to his surroundings this time as he thought.

A faint murmur came from ahead.

"You took refuge with a woman."

"That was a long time ago."

Arthur heard voices through the trees. He slowed down, bent into a crouch and scuttled silently forward with all the skill of the hunter he had been raised to be.

"I grew up there."

"Ealdor?"

"Yes."

Arthur let out a sigh of relief as he recognised the voices to be those of Merlin and the dragonlord. He straightened up and immediately began planning the most amusing way to tell Merlin off for chatting instead of collecting firewood.

"I know the woman."

"Hunith? …She's still alive?"

"Yes. …She's my mother."

Arthur, who had opened his mouth to call Merlin, hesitated. Whatever they were talking about, it sounded… well, personal. It was none of his business, and Arthur was not an eavesdropper, especially when it came to the private discussions of a friend. Perhaps he should just carry on searching for evidence of bandits…

"Then she married. That's good."

By the sadness in Balinor's words, Arthur knew he had been right. He wasn't meant to be hearing this. He began to walk away.

"She never married."

Arthur stopped again. There was something… odd in the way Merlin said those three words. Was Merlin alright? He couldn't help himself. He started back towards the clearing that the voices were emanating from.

When he heard Merlin's next words to Balinor, his heart missed a beat.

"I'm your son."

* * *

**A/N: Well there you have it. The first chapter of my first fanfiction. I hope you liked it. Please review and thanks for reading :) xxx Inimbi**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews :D One guest said that Arthur's thoughts in Chapter 1 were a little awkward. I agree with you, thanks for pointing it out :) I'll try and edit that soon but it's 1:30am right now and my sleepiness probably won't help anything, so I think I'll leave it for another day :P**

**However, despite the lateness of this schoolnight, I've done the next chapter... enjoy, and please continue to review, it makes me so happy! ^^**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"I'm your son."

Arthur froze.

_She never married. I'm your son._

_I'm your son._

The dragonlord's _son_? _Merlin_?

_I'm your son._

… Merlin was…?

He was vaguely aware of the silence, and then Balinor speaking, but he didn't hear the words anymore. Arthur was shocked – his clumsy, bumbling manservant, Merlin, was the son of a dragonlord? Impossible. Arthur almost laughed; how could a man as powerful as a dragonlord be the father of such an idiot?

_I'm your son._

What did this mean? …Was Merlin a dragonlord too?

Arthur started forward. He had to get away, clear his head. He was still in a daze, though he told himself that even if Merlin really _was_ Balinor's son, it couldn't mean anything –

Arthur stumbled slightly and there was a snap beneath his feet.

As Merlin and Balinor turned towards him he looked briefly at them with a blank expression on his face before carrying on up the slope, away from it all.

He did catch, faintly, Merlin saying, "You must not tell Arthur," before he was out of range.

* * *

That night, when Arthur lay down by the fire, he could not sleep. Balinor was away from camp, washing up the dishes and cooking pot, and Merlin was sitting near the flames, on guard. Arthur was exhausted; his left shoulder still ached a little from the wounds the Great Dragon had inflicted – though it was nothing compared to what it had been before he woke up in Balinor's cave – and he was still reeling from the unwelcome knowledge of that earlier conversation between the dragonlord and his son. He desperately wanted to ask Merlin about the whole thing but he felt far too guilty. He had eavesdropped on his friend's private dialogue, and for all that he told himself he had overheard the dragonlord and manservant accidentally, he knew it.

So instead, Arthur shifted into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.

When Balinor came back, Arthur wondered if they would say anything more. But the two kept quiet, and he drifted into half-dreams.

_"It's the same." Merlin says._

No, not a dream. A memory.

_"I never knew my father."_

Arthur was suddenly wide awake. He kept his eyes closed but his thoughts were whirling again. Yes, that's right. He had been travelling to Morgause in the hopes of discovering more about his mother when Merlin had confided in Arthur that he didn't know one of his parents either.

"Had Merlin been lying," Arthur wondered, "Or did he really not know at the time?"

As he pondered this, hoping desperately that the servant he so trusted had not lied to him about one of the few things they had in common, he heard the man himself begin to speak.

Arthur's eyelids flickered open briefly and he caught a glimpse of Balinor, who was now sitting across from Merlin, before he closed them again and pretended to be asleep. The dragonlord must have returned whilst the prince was dozing.

"Why did you never return?" Merlin asked, with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"I thought her life would be better without me."

"Why?"

_"Yes, Balinor," _Arthur questioned silently, "_Why?"_

"Uther wanted me dead."

This hit Arthur hard.

"If he found me, he'd have killed me. And your mother."

"_Hunith?_" Arthur thought of Merlin's sweet, kind mother, and couldn't accept that his father would ever be so cruel. Then he remembered countless executions. Gwen's father… He began to question Uther's actions.

"_So what if Balinor is a dragonlord?_" Arthur fumed in his head. "_The man seems like a good person. Why does my father wanted Merlin's father – yes, _Merlin's father_,_" (he had come to believe it now) "_– dead?_" He didn't understand. "_Dragonlords aren't sorcerers, are they? So why does my father condemn them?_"

"I wanted her to be safe."

_Why would Hunith not have been safe? Would Uther have killed Merlin's mother for merely associating herself with a dragonlord?_

After a pause, Merlin spoke.

"We could've come with you."

Balinor let a small, sad laugh escape him.

"What kind of life would you have had here?"

"We'd have been… happy."

_Merlin._

_Oh, Merlin…_

* * *

**A/N: Poor Merlin :( I think this is progressing a little slowly, but once I get out of the set script and more into the whole Merlin/Arthur possible reveal thing, it should speed up. You'll just have to wait, as that's probably it until this weekend ;] Thanks for reading, and please give me any suggestions you have, even if it's just a note about typos ^^**

**See you on Saturday! (More Merlin, yay! :D xx)**

**A/N#2: A Guest pointed out an error with the "I could've come/we could've come" so thank you for that, I've changed it now :)**


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